cphn: text-messaging microformat

• download cphn .1 - very early php code
• wiki - collaborative notes
• example - bill payment application example
• comments - author's blog
• microformats - the larger community

An open microformat for text-messaging based applications that integrates with existing web standards, structures and databases. By emphasizing text-messaging as the cellphone-native form of interactivity, portable applications can take advantage of the emerging cellphone-enabled population to create new and better ways of managing our lives and information.

email me with your comments

the basics

cphn-based document

The <div id="home"> is intended to be the first text message received from a service based on cphn. The user's first text message would look something like:

wlcm to cphn. go?
(p)ay
(t)ransfer funds

The user would only be able to respond with:

• "p" or "pay"
• "t" or "transfer funds"

Any other responses would be discarded because those responses do not conform to the current state between the user and the server. The server takes the received text message in response, and compares it with the listed options within the <ul>. So if the user replies with:

p

The server would respond with a text message based on the resource described by <a href="#pay"> because it matches what is inside the parentheses of a link tag. So in this case, the server would search the document for <div id="pay">. So the suer would see:

which bill?
(u)tilities
(d)sl

This way these <div> based text messages could be spread across multiple pages or gathered within a single page, whichever works best for application speed and scalability. Services could avoid using parentheses, but i think single letter commands have proven useful in unix environments for years, and work well with the text-message's human interactivity concerns.

design factors

• simple, device neutral format based on existing xhtml standard
• single application file/stack for cell + web transactions
• allows for state-based transactions through server time-outs based on time between responses
• integrates with all text message devices
• writable by humans, parsable by machines
• leverages language skills of current web developers for new technology development

outlying concerns

• Format fulfills "spam on cellphones" prophecy
• overcoming text message security problems

text messaging community values

• use text message for non-essential communication (i.e. plan-making/confirming)
• each txt msg = $
• require me to send as few text messages as possible to get it done
• don't ever be redundant
• make me type as little as possible, because typing is on small awkward devices
• fill one screen, no scrolling unless really neccessary
• be fast to respond, or respond with reason for being busy

possible uses

• Pay bills on cell phone. Monthly automated bills.
• Server Backup, launch db synching through txt message
• Purchasing - small stores based on latest content. "Subscribe to a band"
• Renewals - like domain where it is set to auto renew...
• Opt-in polling of disparate groups for quick decision making

What's Needed

• LAMP application that parses this format and coordinates a message tree
• SMS sending gateway based on LAMP app's database
• MySQL returns true or false algorithm
• SMS receiving loop application that serves LAMP app send cycle - scales for volume
• messaging format between the LAMP application and HTTP-based scripting languages
• configuration with links should allow php-generated content